Three light turkish’s with white burley, and red virginia makes for a poplular, dry and even smoking mixture. This light aromatic provides a good room note and like my other aromatics is an excellant choice for public smoking. I found this blend to be very balanced for aromatic’s and a good everyday smoke acceptable to you and to others.

I purchased some of this on a whim while ordering a few other flavors from Mr. Book’s store front last year. I have run Wild Rose through several different pipes in an effort to try and find some of the subtleties buried in this interesting concoction. While I agree that Wild Rose smokes very burley forward, I do get very slight fragrant hints of Turkish coming through, especially when I smoke this in a meerschaum. Any Virginia flavor is barely hinted at, and comes through perhaps as a sliver of sweetness on the finish. In briar, any of the lighter flavors especially the incredibly minute wisp of rose petal and any sweeter accents are quite lost in the mix. That said, I think Wild Rose is perfect for a meerschaum or perhaps even a clay, briar not so much.

As a fan of floral mixtures like Grasmere Flake, I would have very much enjoyed a bit more top flavor here, as the rose essence is quite understated. However, I am sure my preference was not what the blender intended with this. Altogether a simple but good blend, a bit pipe dependent, but overall I enjoyed it.

I have been a huge lover of everything Steven Books, IMHO, one of America’s top blenders. Wild Rose is the first Books blend that hasn’t bowled me over. I have been smoking a two ounce purchase on and off for more than a year. Like all of Book’s blends, the tobacco is of very high quality. The pouch scent is mainly Burley and just a hint (at least to my nose) of rose. I would not compare it to the floral/rose scent found in some Lakeland style blends. WR needs some dry time before loading up. The Burley is great, but as another reviewer pointed out, it just seems to be a basic, lightly sweetened Burley. I get just the slightest hint of rose and that may be the point as Books tends to be careful to not overshadow the real flavor of the tobacco in his aromatic blends, which is something I appreciate. I think that this would be a great blend for Burley lovers looking for something a tad bit sweet or aromatic lovers looking for more tobacco flavor. It leaves a really nice room note and I’ll finally finish my purchase, but Wild Rose is a onetime deal for me.

To my taste, this is mostly a mild burley with just hints of the component tobaccos and the casing. Nothing wrong with the blend, but it's not for me. I was hoping for a bit stronger casing, but at least it's not overly sweet.

While this is a 'lighter' blend profile than many on the pipe tobacco spectrum, that in no way diminishes its place on the mild side. Books signiture burley blends counters what I perceive to be the harsher, more typical burley blends from C&D. This is friendly without being simple. While I have been smoking a pipe for decades and I include Penzance, Stonehaven, Red Raparee and Uhle's Bishop's Move in my rotation I tend to favor these Books blends. There is a special balance that all these blends share in common even though they taste wildly different. I believe that Steven Books has created a standard in his blends that others might do well to pay careful attention to.

A bit lighter in color with a slightly more fine cut than Grandfathers Own, this has the subtle but unmistakeable aroma of roses in the bag. This essence is very light but noticeable. The flavor was extemely mild and this blend needed to be snorked continuously to extract the flavor.

Much quieter in flavor than Grandfathers, this also had some of that Books' "Old Timey" flavor that I get in spades with "First Pipe". But it's very subdued. This is an aro in the strict sense of that term (as I understand it) but it is very lightly flavored and scented, smokes extremely dry and does not lose its flavor down the bowl. I would not have minded a bit heavier flavor. This is a very fine tobacco, but I liked it less than most of Mr Books' blends because it was just too mild for my tastes. But if you're looking for something very nuanced with a light, refreshing flavor, this is one to check out.

I don't think Steven Books makes a bad tobacco. Steve said that he crushes rose petals to give this tobacco it's rose essence. A mild Burley blend,the delicate rose flavor comes through best in a meerschaum and deserves your full attention. This blend pairs nicely with a cup of Earl Grey tea.